Japan Intra-Company Transferee Visa: Requirements and Timeline
最終更新日: 2026年5月28日
If your multinational employer wants to move you to its Japanese office, the Intra-Company Transferee (企業内転勤, kigyōnai tenkin) visa is usually the right route. It lets staff transferred from an overseas head office, branch, or affiliated company work in Japan for a defined period, without needing a university degree.
Last updated: May 28, 2026
What the Intra-Company Transferee visa actually is
The Intra-Company Transferee (ICT) status of residence is listed by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) as a long-term work category. It is reserved for employees being transferred from an overseas entity to a related Japanese entity within the same corporate group. Around 19,000 foreigners were resident in Japan on this status at the end of 2025.
A few features make it distinct from other Japanese work visas:
- The activities permitted are the same as those under the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa (white-collar technical, humanities, or international-services work). Simple manual labor is not allowed.
- Unlike the Engineer/Specialist route, no university degree is required. Work experience and the genuine intra-group transfer are what matter.
- The status is time-bound. Periods of stay granted are 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years, and the visa is renewable as long as the assignment continues.
- The Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is filed by the receiving Japanese company at a Regional Immigration Bureau. The applicant cannot file directly from abroad.
If your role in Japan would not fall within Engineer/Specialist activities, or if you are the Representative Director or CEO of the overseas head office with authority to execute business, ICT is not the right category. CEOs and reps with executive authority must use the Business Manager visa instead, which had its minimum capital threshold raised from ¥5 million to ¥30 million on October 16, 2025.
Eligibility requirements
To qualify for the ICT visa, you and your employer both need to meet specific tests. The Immigration Services Agency (ISA, under the Ministry of Justice) and MOFA assess these jointly.
Employee-side requirements:
- You must have been continuously employed at the overseas head office, branch, or affiliated company for at least one year immediately before the transfer.
- You will be carrying out work equivalent to Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services activities in Japan.
- Your salary in Japan must be no less than what a Japanese national would earn for the same work. Practitioner guidance puts the practical floor at roughly ¥200,000 to ¥250,000 per month for a single applicant with no dependents, though this is not codified in statute.
Employer-side requirements:
- There must be a capital relationship or management-control link between the dispatching overseas entity and the Japanese receiving entity. A simple business alliance, distribution contract, or service agreement is not enough.
- The receiving organization must be able to document its legitimacy as an operating business in Japan.
- The sending entity must be able to document its existence and operation abroad.
If the role you're being transferred into does not match Engineer/Specialist work, you may want to compare against the standalone Engineer/Specialist in Humanities Visa, which has different eligibility logic.
What changed on April 1, 2026
This is the part most older guides get wrong. Effective April 1, 2026, Japan's Immigration Services Agency tightened pre-arrival screening for Intra-Company Transferees. Applicants and sponsoring companies now have to provide additional documentation up front:
- Proof of the applicant's enrollment in social insurance in the home country.
- Proof of the foreign sending entity's company registration.
- Proof of the applicant's foreign tax payment status.
For Category 3 and Category 4 ICT applications (the smaller and less-established corporate categories), the ISA now expects expanded evidence of legitimacy for both the overseas sending entity and the Japanese host entity. For renewals, if a Japanese resident tax certificate is unavailable, the applicant must provide alternative proof that income has been properly declared.
In practice, this means more paperwork at the COE stage and a higher chance of additional-document requests (追加資料提出通知). Build extra weeks into your timeline.
Document checklist
The receiving company in Japan compiles most of the file. Below is the practical checklist as of 2026. Always cross-check the current ISA list at moj.go.jp/isa before filing.
From the applicant:
- Passport copy (photo page).
- Recent passport-style photograph (4 cm x 3 cm).
- Resume or CV detailing the full employment history with the corporate group.
- Employment certificate from the overseas entity covering at least the last 12 months.
- Copy of the transfer order or assignment letter.
- Proof of social insurance enrollment abroad (new since April 2026).
- Proof of foreign tax payment status (new since April 2026).
- For nationals of the Philippines, Nepal, or Vietnam: documentation under the Japan Pre-Entry Tuberculosis Screening (JPETS) program, in effect since 2025.
From the sending overseas entity:
- Certificate of company registration or equivalent.
- Documentation of the corporate relationship with the Japanese entity (shareholding records, group org chart, capital ties).
- Description of the applicant's current duties abroad.
From the receiving Japanese entity:
- Certificate of company registration (登記事項証明書).
- Most recent corporate financial statements.
- Statutory withholding tax statement (法定調書合計表) and the corresponding receipt stamp, where applicable.
- Description of duties in Japan, salary, working hours, and contract term.
- Company brochure or website printout.
- For Category 3 and 4 employers: additional evidence of operational legitimacy.
Application steps and timeline
The process has two legs: the COE inside Japan, then the visa stamp at a Japanese mission abroad.
- Receiving company files the COE application at the Regional Immigration Bureau covering its location. Since March 2023, the COE is issued electronically by email rather than as a paper document.
- ISA reviews the file. Standard processing for ICT runs approximately 1 to 3 months. Following the April 2026 tightening, expect the upper end of that range, or longer if additional documents are requested. The ISA publishes monthly processing-time statistics on its website.
- COE is issued and forwarded to the applicant abroad (by email since 2023).
- Applicant applies for the visa at the Japanese embassy or consulate covering their place of residence, submitting the COE, passport, application form, photo, and any locally required documents.
- Visa is issued by the overseas Japanese mission, typically within 5 to 10 working days once the COE is in hand.
- Applicant enters Japan within the COE validity (3 months from issuance). At the port of entry, the residence card (在留カード) is issued for stays in Tokyo, Osaka, and major airports; otherwise it is mailed after municipal registration.
- Register at the municipal office within 14 days of moving in, enroll in National Health Insurance or the company health plan, and join the pension system.
A realistic end-to-end timeline in 2026 is around 10 to 16 weeks from the company starting the COE file to the employee landing in Japan, allowing for the new April 2026 documentation requirements.
Fees
Item | Fee (as of 2026) |
|---|---|
Certificate of Eligibility application | Free |
Visa issuance at overseas Japanese mission | Approx. ¥3,000–¥6,000 (varies by location) |
Extension of period of stay (in person) | ¥6,000 (raised from ¥4,000 on April 1, 2025) |
Extension of period of stay (online) | ¥5,500 |
Change of status of residence (in person) | ¥6,000 |
Change of status of residence (online) | ¥5,500 |
No government fee is charged for the COE itself. The main out-of-pocket cost is the visa sticker at the consulate.
Common pitfalls
A few recurring problems trip up ICT applications, even when the employer is a well-known multinational.
- Weak corporate relationship. A distribution agreement, franchise contract, or strategic partnership is not enough. ISA requires a capital tie or management-control link. If the Japanese entity is a joint venture, expect deeper scrutiny of the shareholding structure.
- Sub-standard salary. Offering the applicant their home-country salary when it falls below Japanese market rates for the same role is a frequent refusal ground.
- Wrong activity description. If the role drifts into general management of the Japanese entity, ISA may push the applicant toward the Business Manager visa instead. If duties include hands-on labor (warehouse work, on-site construction, kitchen work), ICT will be refused.
- Less than 12 months of group employment. The one-year prior-employment rule is hard. New hires being immediately seconded to Japan don't qualify.
- Stale documentation under the new rules. Since April 2026, missing the foreign social-insurance proof or foreign tax-payment proof will result in an additional-documents notice, adding weeks.
- CEO confusion. If the applicant is a Representative Director with authority to execute business at the overseas head office, ICT is the wrong category. See our guide on Starting a Company in Japan as Foreigner for the Business Manager track.
Frequently asked questions
Can my family come with me?
Yes. Spouses and minor children of ICT visa holders are eligible to apply for the Dependent (Family Stay) status of residence. Each dependent needs their own COE, usually filed alongside or shortly after the principal applicant's. Dependents can work up to 28 hours per week with separate permission to engage in activities outside their status.
Does the visa lead to permanent residence?
It can. The standard route to permanent residence in Japan requires 10 years of consecutive stay, with at least 5 of those on a work status. ICT holders who score 80 points or above on the Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) Points System can apply for permanent residence after just 1 year. For the accelerated routes, see Getting Permanent Residency in Japan Faster.
Is a university degree required?
No. This is one of the few skilled work visas in Japan that does not require a bachelor's degree. The qualifying factor is the genuine intra-group transfer and at least 12 months of prior employment with the sending entity.
Can I change employers while on the ICT visa?
No, not freely. The ICT status is tied to the specific intra-group transfer. If you leave the corporate group, you must change to a different status of residence (typically Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services) sponsored by the new employer, or leave Japan.
How long can I stay?
Periods granted are 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, or 5 years, depending on the receiving company's category and the assignment length. Renewals are possible as long as the assignment continues and the corporate relationship is intact.
Who issues what?
The Immigration Services Agency (ISA, under the Ministry of Justice) issues the Certificate of Eligibility. Japanese embassies and consulates abroad (under MOFA) issue the visa sticker based on the COE. They are two separate processes, in that order.
Where do I check the most current rules?
The authoritative sources are the ISA's ICT page at moj.go.jp/isa/applications/status/intracompanytransfee.html and MOFA's visa pages. Because the documentation requirements changed on April 1, 2026, older articles and even some law-firm pages may be out of date. Always confirm the current checklist before your sponsor files the COE.
Settling into Japan goes a lot more smoothly when you can read your residence card paperwork, follow a tax-office conversation, and chat with your new coworkers in Japanese. If you're making the move, try Migaku to learn Japanese from the shows, news, and books you already enjoy.